Justice Rally held for women taken too soon

A group gathered south of Edmonton Saturday to show support for women whose remains were found in the area.

The Justice Rally for Stolen Sisters was held in Leduc County where the remains of five women have been found since 2003.

“None of these women’s homicides have been solved, and we’re out here today to support the families of those victims and to help seek justice,” organizer April Evewiberg said.

One of the victims was Amber Tuccaro, whose remains were found on a rural property near Leduc on Sept. 1, 2012. Tuccaro was last seen getting into an unknown man’s vehicle during a visit to Edmonton in August 2010. Her mother attended Saturday’s rally.

“I’m here trying to get justice for my daughter that was found in this Nisku area, trying to get justice because her killer is still out there,” Vivian Tuccaro said.

Tuccaro filed a federal public complaint in 2015 against members of the Leduc RCMP detachment over its investigation of the murder, arguing “Leduc RCMP failed to perform an adequate investigation.”

“There was a lot of things that weren’t done as they were supposed to be done,” Tuccaro said.

Sgt. Josee Valiquette said the RCMP “recognized initial elements of the investigation were mishandled.”

Organizers of Saturday’s rally would like more public awareness about the homicides and for the RCMP to solve the crimes.

“We think that there’s a lot more that can be done, definitely a lot more pressure on the RCMP to solve these cases and to get those families the justice that they are seeking,” Evewiberg said.

The RCMP Historical Homicide Unit took the lead in the investigation of 27-year-old Corie Ottenbreit after her remains were found in July of 2015, but Evewiberg would like an RCMP task force to be established that’s dedicated to investigating all five of the homicides.

“This issue affects everybody, it affects entire communities, and we want to help families like the family of Amber Alissa Tuccaro find out who’s responsible for taking Amber from her family,” Evewiberg said.

Evewiberg said the group will continue to rally under those responsible for the homicides are brought to justice. (KLM, with files from Global News)